Stock-car



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS NOBLE, OF TODDS POINT, ILLINOIS.

STOCK-CA R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 238,424, dated March 1, 1881.

Application filed August 25, 1880. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern:

Beit known thatI, THOMAS NOBLE, ofTodds Point, in the county of Shelby'and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Stock-Oar, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to construct a stock-car that can readily be adapted for transporting cattle or other stock, or mixed stock, and can easily be converted into an ordinary freight-car.

The invention consists of an improved folding feed-trough and supporting braces, movable water-trough, adjustable shutter or feeding-platform, and adjustable and removable stall-gates, all of which are hereinafter described.

Figure l is a plan of the car on line, 0000, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same on line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation on line 2 z, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, A represents a car having in its sides long narrow windows a a, beneath which, on the outside of the cars, are hinged shutters B B, that may be closed up and over said windows a a, as shown at I), Fig. 3, or be let down, as shown at b, Figs. 1 and 3, to serve as a platform for the operator when feeding the cattle. Within the car, immediately below the windows a a, are the feed-troughs O O, which consist of a narrow strip, 0, of wood or of other suitable material, hinged longitudinally to the side of the car, and of a broader strip, cl, of the same material, hinged along the outer edge of the said narrow strip 0.

D D are elbow-braces, shaped to conform with the shape of a trough, 0, when open, and hinged at top and bottom to the side of the car A, so as to swing laterally; and E is a rod passed through the projecting eyes of the braces D, to hold said braces in an open position, and to protect the troughs 0. When the troughs O are not in use the rods E, which are ordinarily secured by nuts on their ends, maybe withdrawn, the troughs O G folded up against the side of the car, and the braces D folded over them, as shown on the left in Fig.

3, in which position these devices occupy but little space.

F is a movable water-trough, which may be set in an open trough, O, in a position to allow cattle from two stalls to drink from it, and when not in use said trough F may be stowed away in any convenient place provided for it on top of the car.

G G represent the stall gates or doors, which divide the car into stalls. Said gates or doors G G are constructed of suitable strong material, with a fixed pin or pintle, f, in the bottom ear of the gate, on the edges next the feed-troughs O, and with a sliding bolt, g, extending from upper earinto a timber, H, that extends the full length of the car A. The opposite edges of these gates G are provided with vertically-sliding bolts h i at the bottom and top, respectively. These gates are held closed in place by the entrance of the lower pins or bolts, f h, in corresponding sockets in the bottom of the car A, and may be opened by sliding the bolt it up and the bolt z' down, thereby freeing the front of the gate, so that it shall turn on the bolts or pins on the edge next the feed-troughs.

The size of the stalls can be regulated by placing the gates G G closer together or farther apart, making suitable sockets or holes for these pins or bolts in the bottom of the" car and in the timbers H.

The car can be divided into two ormore sections by placing gates GG transversely, whose upper bolts or pins are engaged in a transverse strip, I, as shown.

In a car arranged in this way, any and all kinds of stock can be shipped, or a mixed lot of stock be shipped, if desired, as the stalls can be made of any required size by simple adjustment of the gates G G; and if it be desired to use the car for other purposes, the entire inside arrangements can be readily removed and securely packed in a small compass, giving almost the entire space for storin g freight.

Having thus fully described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- '1. An improved stock-car constructed substantially as herein shown and described, con B B, folding teed-troughs O G, folding braces taining the following elements: a combined D D, and rods E, substantially as herein shown 10 shutter and feeding-platform, folding feedingand described.

trou 'hs and braces movable Water-trough and removable and adjustable stall-gates, as THOMAS NOBLE set; forth. Vitnesses:

2. The combination, with the car A, provid- DAVID F. KENNEDY,

ed with windows a a, of the platform-shutter JAMES M. (JORDRAY. 

